Auto Trader California 
If you have never been to a car show, it may be difficult to know what happens at one. Knowing all about the trendy car show must haves can require a great deal of research combined with experience. If a car show is a part of your plans for the events that you would like to host this year, you can use this guide to help you out. Besides, what better way is there to promote your car shop than to host a car show?
Moreover, an event of this magnitude is a great way to network and get to know the local auto body scene. It is a sure way to generate direct sales, and it offers your business great face-to-face value. And you can have loads of fun in the process. It isn’t a difficult event to organize and finding people who will be interested should be easy. If you are having trouble with planning your car event with the right kinds of car show must haves, you are not alone. This guide will help to make your planning better and get things started sooner. Keep on reading to find out more.
Preparing for a Car Show
Before you can start going through your list and buying the trendiest car show must haves for your event, you need to ensure that you have planned it out thoroughly. This can mean that you may need to go back to the business plan to see if you can afford to spend money on such a show. Using a business plan for your event can help to show your sponsors that you are serious about it. It can also help you to identify the partners or investors that you want for your business.
Moreover, planning with a business plan in mind can help you to determine your target audience, scalability with your employees, and the kind of show that you want to host. What is the cause of your event? Are you hosting a car show to raise funds for charity or a personal objective? If you need help to raise money or to host garage door sales, you need to be honest with the people who will help you. Outlining a robust plan as part of your car show must haves checklist is a safe way to account for everything. It will also help you to understand the feasibility of your strategy.
One of the key components of ensuring that you stay prepared in your plan is to identify the types of resources at your disposal. Will you be needing new sets of car tires or any other additional items to make your event a success? Part of ensuring that your event runs smoothly rests on the employees that you choose to work at your event. You must choose a strong team that is motivated to work throughout the day or night. When you define the roles before the day of the event, you can ascertain who will take care of what. It will also help you to ensure that you build a strong working relationship before the day of the event. A reliable team can be a great support system before, during, and after the event.
Once you have structured your staff accordingly, you can think about other roles that you can outsource. For instance, if you will require portable restrooms, you can find a reliable local service provider to provide these at a reasonable fee. Sometimes it is more interesting if there are giveaways and competitions that you can have. So, ensure that you have enough people to judge certain competitions and a team that will look after the prize giveaways.
Budget for a Car Show
While the planning is essential, having insight into the budget that you will need is an equally significant part if not more. You cannot host an event without putting the budget as one of the common “car show must haves” on your list. Once you have identified the things that you will require from your budget, you can start thinking about the items on your to-do list that have a monetary value. These types of items can form part of your initial overhead for planning the car show.
An outlined budget that accounts for every detail can be a significant part of looking for sponsors or advertisers. This can help you with determining the balance that needs to be raised if you cannot find adequate funding within the right time frame. For instance, if you will need to hire out security services, your budget should consider an estimated amount for such services. Almost every aspect of planning a car show requires a budget. It is important to outline your budget along with your business plan. This will make it easier for you to not miss any significant detail in the planning phase. It will also give you a clear indication of where you need to start when you are souring your ultimate car show must haves.
Find The Right Location for a Car Show
The perfect location for an outdoor event is an important part of a car show must haves. It is important to not only think about scalability but to consider the benefits that your event will bring for the owner of the venue. Part of the bigger business plan is having a car show that grows annually. When finding the location, you have to think of the future as well. The growth of the event should not be determined by your level of experience, sometimes the venue that you choose can be an important factor.
For instance, the first thing that you should look for when you are searching for a venue is how the general lawn is kept. You do not want to host your car show in a location that has xeriscaping designs on its lawn or any aesthetically pleasing and intricate landscape designs for that matter. To avoid this, we recommend choosing a location that is aligned with your auto body needs. For example, you can choose an automotive business. These types of buildings have ample parking space, and they have an existing local client base that can be valuable for your event.
If you will be hosting a fundraising event, choose a venue that can cater to a dual indoor and outdoor setting. But you should keep in mind that every decision can impact your overhead costs and increase them. Nonetheless, your location needs to be easily accessible to all of your guests and competitors. So, an ideal location would be a venue that has simple directions to navigate to and lots of parking space. The layout of the venue is important and ideally, it should promote a free flow of traffic and easy access to the cars. To achieve this, you can be strategic about how you place your vendor stalls and trash cans throughout the venue.
Adequate testing areas are also essential, and it shows that you have kept the needs of your varied guests in mind while you were planning your show. Perhaps, you can include the layout of your venue in your invitations, banners, and different parts of the venue to help your guest with navigating around the location. This can also benefit your staff by attending to different stations promptly.
Pre-Registering for your Car Show
To help keep the numbers controlled and to plan your food and drinks cost overheads, setting up pre-registration for your event is a must. Once you have sorted out your budget, you can set up a pre-registration form for your guests. Doing it online would be much more convenient, and it will save you time than going through the forms manually. It is a good way to alleviate stress in your life. It gives an estimated number of people who will be participating on that day.
Knowing who your event is catering for can also help you to determine the items that will be part of your car show must haves. For example, let’s say you were planning on hiring out an ice block machine for the day. But not knowing the estimated number of guests who will attend can confuse you to determine the size of the machine. The pre-registration process can help you to make up your mind about the items that you need and other important things such as the size of your venue and the number of cars that will be on display. The best part about having this option for your guests is that you can offer them discounts if they RSVP in time.
Marketing Your Car Show
The best way to market any event is through face-to-face or word-of-mouth marketing. You can either hand out flyers at your favorite hangout spots in town, or you can use more advanced methods such as social media and e-vites. Marketing your event is an important part of winning your guests over. It shows your dedication and commitment, and it brings you closer to your target audience. This can help you to improve your marketing strategy and access different areas of your event without realizing it.
The key to successful marketing is delivering what your target audience wants from you. For example, if your target audience wants some car DIY tips and tricks, you can find experts such as a car locksmith to give them what they want. This is the phase that allows you to do more research on ways to make your event better for the benefit of those that will be in attendance. After all, satisfied spectators are part of the list of car show must haves.
Branding your Car Show
Having your business name as part of your car show must haves checklist is a great way to leave a lasting impression. Customers and prospective ones will remember your shop’s name, especially if the show was a success. With your business name at the front center of the event, it will be easy to focus on planning an event with your expected target audience in mind. It is a key strategy to reinforce the values of your business through your event.
You can place banners all over the town showcasing your event before you finalize the planning. It will also help you to attract new customers to your store before the big day comes. Your brand means everything and choosing it to form part of your show can help you to maintain a healthy number of people attending your event.
There are other effective alternatives to ensure that your car show event is branded properly. For example, you can provide more information on a website or your flyers. As a business owner, the marketing strategy that you choose can determine if your event is seen by the masses or not. Failure to bring in spectators can also leave you at a financial deficit risk. If your budget is flexible enough to include a media coverage screening on the day, you can consider it. This is a great way to ensure that you deliver a reputable car show.
Set Up Your Showroom
Find the right cars to showcase the genre of your car show. What is a car show without classic cars as a car show must haves? You can pick a variety of cars that have made headlines in car history. The cars that you choose to put up in your showroom should be able to balance out the competition for you. Your target audience and location are the best determining factors of the showroom that you will set up.
The Bottom Line
Car show must haves are a list of the important things that any car show event organizer should keep track of during their planning and preparation phases. It is always important to know what you will need and plan for it while you still have time. Let’s say you were planning on having RVs at your show. You need to know how to find the right-sized RV custom covers to ensure that they are protected throughout the event.
